114 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



February, 1917 



twelve-pound friction-top buckets, $2.00; 

 chunk honey in square clear-glass quart 

 fruit-jars, 75 cts. We sell to the local 

 gTocers also, and these prices are the same 

 as the grocers secure. One might think 

 that peddling honey from door to door 

 would interfere with the gTocers' sales; 

 but, on the contrary, it has stimulated their 

 trade if anything. 



I believe beekeepers who are located in 

 or near a town make a mistake if they do 



not dispose of as much of their crop as 

 possible in their home market ; and, further, 

 that the more honey we sell direct to the 

 consumer the better, for in this way people 

 who have never thought of honey as a food 

 will become regular consumers, and will 

 see that they get it, particularly if there 

 are any children in the house. But when 

 retailing honey, always be sure to get the 

 retail price. 



New Albany, Ind. 



Why Cannot the oAssociations in 



this Country Accomplish as Much 



as those in S-witzerland ? 



By F. Greiner 



T^eit'S WHAT'S THE REASON? 



an extensive 

 report of the 

 work done by the 

 " Organization of 

 the Swiss Bee- 

 keepers " will, no 

 doubt, be of inter- 

 est to the readers of Gleanings, as they will 

 find suggestions therein helpful in many 

 ways, it seems to me that this organization 

 is doing a work right along that beneiits its 

 members in a very material way. Many 

 times after returning from one of our bee- 

 keepers' meetings I have asked myself 

 what we have accomplished. We usually 

 have a very good time, meet one another, 

 discuss the management of bees for j^rofit, 

 and sometimes learn a little along this line, 

 which is all very good so far as it goes; 

 but we do not receive such benefits as it 

 would seem we might. What's the reason? 



The Organization of the Swiss Beekeep- 

 ers consists of 117 local societies. On ac- 

 count of the great war a convention has not 

 been held in two years. 



The unfavorable season of 1916 made it 

 necessary to do a great deal of feeding. 

 The sugar needed for this purpose was ob- 

 tained thru the organization at a very low 

 rate, the Swiss government allowing the 

 same to come in duty-free, if my under- 

 standing is correct. 



The official organ of the association, Die 

 Schweizerische Bienenzeitung, has 8124 

 subscribers. 



Twenty-four beekeepers' institutes were 

 held during 1916. Forty observation sta- 

 tions and seventy-four mating-stations are 

 constantly maintained. Eleven hundred 

 apiaries with ten thousand colonies of bees 

 were visited by official committees. 



CO-OPERATIVE SELLING. 



The organization is instrumental in dis- 

 posing of the honey of the members. Dur- 

 ing 1916 the honey produced by 67 local so- 



cieties was thus 

 taken care of. 

 Nine hundred bee- 

 keepers with 

 21,122 colonies of 

 bees, producing 

 108,151 kilos of 

 honey (238,429 

 pounds ) placed 

 their product in the hands of the association 

 and had it sold. 



The book-keeping branch of this body of 

 beekeei^ers has one hund/ed members. Ac- 

 cording to their reports, taking a four-year 

 average, the capital invested per colony is 

 $8.28; running expenses, $2.12; deprecia- 

 tion, 32 cts. ; net receipts, 70 cts. 



A library is owned by the society, con- 

 sisting of 760 different works on bee culture 

 and 112 works of other or kindred charac- 

 ters. There are 1300 volumes in all, some 

 of the books in duplicate. Four hundred 

 and twenty-seven beekeepers availed them- 

 selves of the opportunity to read the books. 

 A museum is also maintained where, I 

 presume, everything noteworthy in the line 

 of beekeepers' implements, etc., may be 

 seen, the same being visited by a great 

 many people, and serving, no doubt, as a 

 medium of education materially. 



To facilitate the purchase and tlie sale of 

 bees, particularly of young colonies, an 

 agency is permanently conducted in Sursee. 

 There is also an aeeident and a foul- 

 brood insurance bureau. During 1915 49 

 cases of foul brood were adjusted and paid 

 for, damages amounting to $302.29 ; 122,596 

 colonies were insured, paying in premiums 

 $1191.68, the surplus in this department 

 being $2144.34, the general cash surplus 

 of the organization being $9158.19. 



From the above brief account we can see 

 that the Swiss beekeepers are far ahead of 

 American beekeepers as to organization. 

 They have attained what we hardly dream 

 of. The members of the association seem to 

 place their honey in the hands of the central 

 Continued on page 153. 



